First Global Team Brunei Darussalam 2022 completed their best-ever performance at the FIRST Global 2022 Robotic Competition by placing 88th, an improvement of 24 places from 112 last recorded in 2019. The team also won the social media challenge “Lead the Way”. This is the third time Bruneian youth are participating in this prestigious international robotic competition since its inception in 2017. More than 180 nations competed in the robotic competition, which is held in a different country each year, and this year’s competition took place in Geneva, Switzerland.
Representing Brunei Darussalam this year consist of six students, two Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB) mentors and one schoolteacher. The team left Brunei on Tuesday, 11 October 2022, to participate in the FIRST Global Robotic Challenge from the 13-16 of October.
The students who are proud to represent the country were Md Arief Firdaus bin Abdullah Arman, Md Shazriman binti Amtani, Zulhaiqal Raziq bin Zainal from Sekolah Menengah Awang Semaun; and from Institut Tahfiz Al-Quran Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah were Muhammad Darwisy Hakimie bin Mardeny @ Yakub, Iman Alhumaira binti Haji Ahmad Abdussalam @ Erman and Mumtazah Noha Umaimah binti Muhammad Nudin.
The team were mentored by passionate lecturers from UTB namely Yang Mulia Dr Sharina Yunus, Assistant Professor and Deputy Director of Enterprise Office; and Yang Mulia Md. Khairuddin Ghafar, Electrical and Electronics Engineering Lecturer. Also with them was postgraduate student Nur Syadza Elyanna Kok. On the social media front, Yang Mulia Cikgu Arief Ebil from Sekolah Awang Semaun was instrumental in recording their journey from the beginning until the final event.
Due to the uncertainty of international travel brought on by the pandemic, the team only received a base kit of robotic parts six weeks before the competition date. Not willing to back down the six team members worked hard to design, build, and assemble their robot.
It has taken these students many long hours, working after classes on weekends, to put the pieces together to ensure that the robot can perform the various function to meet the demands of this year’s challenge.
The FIRST Global robotic competition launched in 2017 with support from American innovator Dean Kamen, encourages young people from all over the world to apply their technical skills and mechanical know-how to challenges that represent symbolic solutions to global problems.
This year's theme is carbon capture, a nascent technology in which excess heat-trapping Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is sucked out of the atmosphere and sequestered, often underground, to aid in the fight against global warming.
In the competition, six different countries play on the game field at a time. They are split into two different alliances and then work together to scoop plastic balls of which represents carbon.
The initial goal is to fill as many balls as possible into a tower topped by a funnel in the center of the field. Teams can accomplish this in one of two ways: either direct the robots to feed the balls into corner pockets where team members can toss them into the funnel by hand, or have the robots catapult the balls up into the funnels themselves. Every team has an interest in filling the funnel - the more collected, the more everyone benefits.
Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP), Brunei LNG, I.T. Protective Security Services Sendirian Berhad (ITPSS), Baiduri Bank, and Imagine Sendirian Berhad were Team Brunei Darussalam's platinum sponsors. Meanwhile, Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) and Progresif Sendirian Berhad were the golden sponsors. Petrokon Utama Sendirian Berhad was the bronze sponsor (PUSB).
“The Robotic Coding Conquest 2022 is an excellent initiative by UTB to promote innovation through the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) education programme. The objective of this programme includes building a nation of innovators for sustainable economic growth and this aligns well with Baiduri Bank’s commitment to nurture and develop homegrown talented innovators in the era of digitalisation,” said Pg Azaleen Pg Dato Hj Mustapha, Deputy CEO, Business Development of Baiduri Bank.
Brunei's robotic team has a promising future with the potential to be among the top 50 robotic teams in the world with ongoing support from the government, schools, and sponsors.
